Great post over at 800CEOREAD Blog about a recent stay at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando. Stories like this always make me ask myself if my company does all it can to either make the customer experience flawless or make-up for it big time when it’s not. Ritz-Carlton is famous for this […]

Peter Davidson links to an article that describes a why-didn’t-I-think-of-that idea by HP to offer hotel guests the opportunity to check-out digital cameras during their stay and print photos on-site to take home with them. While probably not the first time something like this has been done, it is truly […]

As a follow-up to this post, I refer you to this article from MarketingProfs about another less than satisfying experience at Starbucks along with a good analysis of the interplay between expectations, performance and satisfaction. In the article, the author describes his experience as “stressful” and when I was reading […]

While these are certainly becoming more and more prevalent, I have five GMail invitations up for grabs on a first come, first served basis. If you would like one before they open things up to the public and all the good addresses are gone, just leave a comment on this […]

Today Yahoo! unveiled their upgraded email service response to Google’s upcoming 1GB GMail service. What did they offer to combat this bold offering by Google? Did they match the 1GB? Did they offer more than 1GB? No, they upgraded free email accounts to 100MB. I use Yahoo! email and have […]

Yesterday I was reading the cover article in the July issue of Fast Company on Starbucks and its foray into music (link to that specific article is not available at the time of this posting). The article was about how Starbucks is rolling-out a service in many of its locations […]

This post over at the Good Experience Blog, about the simplistic customer research methods of Hallmark founder Joyce C. Hall back in 1915, makes a good point about how sometimes more simple and direct methods can yield the most valuable and compelling results. He simply observed people doing their thing […]

Right behind cable providers are mobile phone service providers with the second lowest ranking in the University of Michigan’s customer satisfaction index. Key complaints: dropped calls, poor customer service, penalties and fees. My biggest complaint — why can’t we get the coolest phones and latest technologies that show up in […]

Media strategist for George Bush, Mark McKinnon, discusses the campaign’s use of technology to deliver messages faster and with more immediate focus and relevance in this Business 2.0 article. The takeaway for me, from a marketing and business perspective, is: For him and his team, the point of using new […]

My wife and I have known each other for 15 years and until last month, we never ate together at McDonald’s. My wife’s eating habits are on the healthier side and McDonald’s never fit with that. I’d eat there occasionally and enjoy it, but always felt guilty because I knew […]